I'm not trying to stir the pot, but Vince and David kept trying to make a point on the show that I still think is getting glossed over. It's not that there is a rape scene in Identity Crisis, it's that the company is using the SAME characters it squarely aims at kids in a variety of kids material in an adult book. This is not about censorship or anything else, it's almost more a question of how DC or any company chooses to manage its brand.
Exactly. I am way behind on my podcasts so don't generally comment when I get around to listening to one, but I am listening to this discussion even as I type and I want to knock my head against my desk in frustration. It isn't the fact of the rape scene or any other incident that are associated with the "darkening" of mainstream comics, it is the fact that when a company makes the choice to market their characters toward children in the form of toys, shoes, shirts, cartoons, "Hulk hands," etc., in my opinion that company has an obligation to ensure that the widely disseminated format for presenting those characters do not present them in situations most rational people would not feel are appropriate for children.
For example, Microsoft makes money hand over fist with Halo, and we all know that there are 10-year-old kids playing the games, but Microsoft does not overtly market ancillary products that would appeal to children. There is no "Wow, wow, Master Chief!" cartoon on Noggin nor Halo coloring books. Yes, there are McFarlane inaction figures, but from the number of unsold figures hanging on the pegs at my local Toys R' Us, they are not appealing to children (let alone the adults collectors for which they are intended). Similarily, there were no kid-centric action figures, toys, puzzles, etc. derived from the Watchmen movie, because Warner Bros. had sense enough to understand that they should not purposefully entice to want to see the film by selling a license to produce Rorschach plushes. On the other hand, Star Trek's subject matter and presentation is child safe, in my opinion, and if I didn't know anything about the movie, if my kids enjoyed the new action figures and they wanted to see it, nothing would pop up on the screen that would negate the fact that the toys were marketed to the children.
Yes, yes, yes, we can all get on our "holier-than-thou high horses," and declare that all parents need to examine everything that their children come in contact with, but that isn't always a reality. Sometimes, parents need to make some assumptions based on what they have seen. For example, after watching Sesame Street, you can confidently buy and give to a toddler a book about Elmo and his father, pretty secure in the knowledge that the book isn't going to present Elmo being sexually abused by his father. By the same token, if an adult sees Justice League cartoons on Cartoon Network and Boomerang, notices Justice League coloring books at Walgreen's and Justice League action figures in the toy aisle at Target, there is a subliminal statment being made of "Justice League=child safe," and by extension, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Question, etc. are also "child safe." If DC doesn't want to send that message, then they need to control which characters and concepts they make available for licensing.
This creates a conundrum. DC (and Marvel) could stop selling licenses to manufacturers that produce products marketed to children, but doing that would mean a huge loss on income since, as far as I know, the companies are really still in existance to market their large catalogues of characters with comic books in and of themselves being a minor component. In the alternative, DC (and Marvel), could ensure that their mainstream titles are always all-ages accessible, a simpler remedy. This does not mean that those fans so inclined to enjoy such things would be denied seeing dead girlfriends stuffed in refrigerators or one half of a happily married couple raped and murdered, but such stories would appear in niche titles and imprints, readily available in comic book shops and book stores, on the shelf in the latter sealed in shrinkwrap.
Dilber MC Theme by HarzeM